Chapter 10:
The next morning, Bella waited for August at the breakfast table and when he showed up, 10 minutes late and with the excuse that his wooden leg had delayed him a bit, they ordered.
"So, what was your plan to get Emma to believe?" She asked him.
"Well, I was thinking of getting the Storybook and adding my story in it, leaving the last part out. It would have gotten Henry curious and he would have gotten Emma on my trail. I was going to do this very slowly, with a bit of mystery. Try to get her interested, intrigued. I didn't think you'd have been able to come with her." He explained.
"Well, apparently my father is the one who wrote this book." Bella replied before showing him the picture she had taken of the last page of the book, the one who spoke of her.
"It can't be the author. The last author was punished by the sorcerer and his apprentice a few months before the curse was cast and sent somewhere, locked away. I don't know who wrote this one but it can't be him." He explained, telling her everything he had learned about the author before coming here.
"But who could have been able to do it?" Bella asked, feeling a bit depressed about having more questions about her father's identity.
"I don't know. Maybe the sorcerer, or his apprentice. Or someone else that works for them, or knows about their work. I mean, I could write a book like this now that I know everything… I guess it could be anyone. Maybe they even have a new Author and he's your father… there's no way of knowing right now." August shrugged his shoulders.
"Great, more questions." Bella mumbled.
"Sorry, I wish I could be more help…" he apologized.
"It's not your fault. It's just frustrating sometimes to see Emma slowly connecting with her parents while I don't even know who mines are."
"I know." He nodded, thinking of his father and hoping he'd cross him in town.
They were quickly done with their breakfast and went to the sheriff's station, taking August's bike. When they arrived, two kids were sitting on chairs in front of an upset looking Emma and Graham was arguing over the phone.
"Hey, what's going on?" Bella asked Emma, quickly introducing her to August.
"They shop-lifted. Mister Clark called and I answered the call. Henry was there so Regina picked him up and since they apparently have been living on their own, she demands that we send them to Boston, in the Foster system but they'd be separated." Emma explained.
"Isn't there any other option? We can't send them away from here Emma… The curse won't let it happen." Bella argued.
"I know… Right now we're trying to find a solution, Graham is on the phone with Regina and I think she knows or is about to find out that his heart is gone. She'll know I had something to do with it and go after me again, maybe even you." Emma replied.
"Do you know who they are, in the book I mean." August asked her.
"Henry said they were Hansel and Gretel, which makes sense. I just don't know where to look for their father." Emma shook her head.
"After the history Regina has with these two in the book, I think it's safe to say that she probably erased their existence from their father's mind." Bella shook her head as well.
"There has to be a way to find him." August argued as Graham hung up.
They followed him in his office, leaving the two kids alone, handcuffed to the chairs so they wouldn't run away again. Bella quickly introduced August to Graham.
"I think Regina is going to try and go look for my heart, it won't take her long to realize that it's gone and has been replaced by a random one we found in her vault." He explained.
"How can we find their father?" Bella asked.
"I'm not sure but we have to do something, we can't let them go to Boston." Emma insisted.
"Okay, I have an idea. I'll go see if Gold can help me with it. Until then, you three try to locate their father." Bella declared suddenly.
"What are you going to do?" Graham asked her.
"It's a long shot but I'll try to see if Gold has any legal way to allow them to stay here, like with me or something. If he can, then I'll look for a place to rent. It's all until the curse is broken and their father finds them again anyway." Bella replied.
"Good idea. August and Emma can look for their father and look after the kids while I collect the bug we placed on Regina's car and examine the data." Graham decided.
Everyone nodded and started to go their own way.
.
Bella arrived quickly at the pawnbroker's shop and came in, glad that there was no one else inside.
"Miss Swan, we're making these visits a daily habit." Gold said with a pleasant smile when he saw her.
"I need your help." She said after greeting him.
"What is it?" He looked serious and truly willing to help so Bella quickly explained the situation.
She started by mentioning that Pinocchio was in town and what his condition was and quickly moved on to the subject of Hansel and Gretel and what she wanted to do to help them.
"Well, I'm sure I could do something in a couple of day and find a way to delay Regina sending them off until then, but wouldn't you rather just reunite them with their father?" he asked her curiously.
"Of course, but we don't know where to look for him. They have no memory of him and we might just have to wait until the curse breaks to reunite them." Bella shrugged her shoulders, resigned.
"Except I know exactly who he is in this cursed life and where to find him. He works at Merrin's Autorepair." Gold replied, immediately giving her the name.
Smiling, Bella quickly called Emma and told her what Gold had just informed her of and, while Emma and August were trying to convince the man that he had children and was their only chance of staying together, Bella promised Gold that she would keep him informed if anything they'd find on Bella and joined Graham at the station, hoping to find something to do to help him.
.
"Finding anything?" Bella asked Graham, handing him a hot cup of coffee as she joined him.
"Not much right now. Except that Regina visits the hospital quite often for someone in her excellent health. She's almost never sick and neither is Henry. I don't see why she goes there so often…" Graham shook his head.
"Yes, it's a bit weird. Anything else that could be strange?" She asked him.
"Not really, she mainly goes to Granny's, the school, the city hall, her house… Her vault once or twice a week. Her visits to the hospital are the only things that don't make sense, especially since she mostly stays there about half an hour." He replied.
"Maybe that's where Belle is, maybe she's keeping here there. She might be in a coma or something…"
"How do we find out where she is exactly? It's not like we can search the entire hospital…" Graham shook his head.
"Gold might have an idea on how to look, I'll call him and ask him to join us here this afternoon, I know he'll come. We'll probably be able to get an idea on how to look into it, maybe he can pull the financial record and see a trail or something on them. You can't exactly ask for them or Regina would know that something is up." Bella told him before she took her phone out and called Gold, asking him to come in the afternoon.
"Why not now?" Graham asked her, confused.
"Because it's almost lunch and Emma should be back soon with August, she just texted me that the kids were with their father. Apparently, August helped convince him to give them a chance. We'll get lunch together and start looking at everything we have on the hospital until Gold arrives with everything he has." Bella explained.
"You're right." Graham nodded.
"I'll go and get take out for us at Granny's and be back as soon as I can." Bella told him with a smile before he left.
.
Regina was furious in her office. She was sure that it was all because of Emma. Graham was now out of her reach and somehow, even ordering his heart around wasn't enough. Maybe Emma's kisses helped him resist her, that had to be it. Without hesitating, Regina frowned and slowly crushed the heart in her hand.
If she couldn't have Graham under her control, then nobody would have him. He failed in the mission she had given him a long time ago, now he was hers and she could do whatever she wanted with him. Nobody would be able to trace that murder back to her and she'd be fine. Now she just needed to find a way to keep her stubborn son away from the Savior.
.
While they ate their lunch at the station, August answered Emma's questions and seemed relieved to know that she had forgiven him for abandoning her when they first arrived in this land. She seemed to understand that he was just a boy and she didn't hold him responsible at all.
"What do you think Regina will do when she realizes that she can't control you with your heart?" August asked Graham.
"She'll probably think that me dating Emma has something to do with it and she'll crush the heart we place in my box to kill me and then she'll try to hurt Emma subtly enough that Henry stays on her side." Graham replied.
"Whose heart did you place in the box?" Bella asked.
"Someone who died a long time ago. It's one of the hearts she got from her mother." Graham replied, reassuring them.
"I'm not too worried about what she'll do against me right now. Let's concentrate on finding out how Regina is hiding Belle at the hospital and rescuing her. I called Mary-Margaret, she warned Henry and he knows to be careful and not to believe everything Regina tells him about us." Emma replied.
"How about the curse, do you know how you'll break it?" August asked Emma.
Blushing a little, Emma looked up at Graham, who blushed a bit too and they both looked down.
"Let's concentrate on one problem at a time. We'll see about breaking the curse once Belle is safe and Gold owes us." Bella intervened.
"So, how's your leg?" Graham asked August.
"I can feel that the progression of the wood has stopped, so that's a good sign, but it hasn't regressed yet. I have been truthful but I still need to be brave and unselfish." August replied.
In his head, he knew that he hadn't been completely truthful but was there a good way for him to tell Emma that he was the reason Neal left her to go to jail? That Henry's father was the Dark one's son, the one he wanted to look for and that Neal didn't want to see his father again? Wasn't the best solution to keep it all silent and let things happen?
"I'm sure the opportunity will arise." Bella smiled softly.
A while later, when Gold arrived with everything that he had on the hospital, they were more than ready to study everything until they had an answer.
"How are we even sure that this is where she's keeping Belle? She might simply be keeping another dark secret at the hospital." August asked.
"No, this is where Belle is, I can feel it." Bella shook her head.
"Never bet against Bella's instinct, she's always right. Last time I didn't listen to her, I ended up going to jail for someone else's crime." Emma replied.
"I did warn you not to sell the watches and to simply go to Canada with Neal." Bella remembered.
"Yes, well, I have a feeling that Neal wasn't exactly trust worthy anyway… Listening to you wouldn't have changed a thing, he would have left me anyway, I would just have ended up a single mother, that's all." Emma replied, showing everyone how hurt she still was by this part of her past.
"I take it that this Neal is Henry's father then?" Gold asked.
"Yes, Henry's father, my first real love… Definitely not the first one to let me down and betray me though." Emma replied.
After Emma spoke, Gold and Bella looked up at August and, for a second, thought they saw something there, maybe regret, but it was gone after a second and so they forgot about it, for now.
They spent about 2 hours looking through papers and, when Mary-Margaret and Henry came to join them after school, they had the beginning of an hint. Emma quickly introduced her mother and son to August and smiled when Henry smiled brightly at Pinocchio.
"So, did you find anything?" Henry asked.
"Yes, there seem to be an hidden level to the hospital, in the basement and it's receiving more electricity than a usual basement. Something's up in there." Graham replied.
"Cool, let's go." Henry exclaimed.
"You can't go with us Henry, it will be too dangerous." Emma argued.
"I can look out and run interference if Regina shows up." Henry argued back.
"He has a point there." Graham nodded.
"Fine, but you better be careful, kid." Emma nodded and, while they looked one last time at everything they had to know how they'd open the locked door, Henry approached his mother.
"So Emma, what can you tell me about him, you know, my father?"
Henry's question caught the attention of not only Emma, but also Bella, Mary-Margaret and August.
"I… He was…" Emma started to say and Bella could see that Emma was about to lie and so she caught her attention and shook her head.
"You're father… His name was Neal, I met him when I was 18 and finally out of the system. I stole the yellow bug and as it turned out, he had stolen it first and was sleeping in the back seat. We hit it off right away and, for a time, we were kind of happy until I found out that he had stolen some expensive watches and that people where looking for him. We had a plan. Sell the watches, use the money to get new identities and start over in Tallahassee… I went to collect the watches from where he had hidden them and went to sell them while he waited for me. He sold me out, I went to jail and never heard from him again except for the time I received the keys of the yellow bug. I guess he thought it would be a good apology." Emma explained, emotion tick in her voice.
"Oh Emma…" Mary-Margaret exclaimed, going to hug her daughter.
"Do you have anything of him? What was he like?" Henry asked, his voice less confident now.
"Well, he loved jelly doughnuts. And he gave me the swan necklace. It was a key chain he stole for me. I wear it as a reminder never to trust anyone ever again."
After she said this, August looked down, trying to hide his guilt.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." Henry spoke softly, putting his hand on Emma's arm.
"Don't worry about it, kid, you had a right to know. Here, you can have the necklace. It's well time I start trusting people again and it'll be something of your father you can hold on to. Just make sure Regina doesn't see it or she'll take it away." Emma told him, taking off her Swan necklace and placing it around her son's neck.
"Thanks mom!" Henry exclaimed, hugging her and surprising her by calling her 'mom'.
"It will be something of my father's and something to let people know that I'm your son, because of the swan on it. Henry Swan would have been a great name." Henry added.
"Your father's last name was Cassidy, or at least that's the one he used back then." Emma told him.
"I think we're ready." Graham declared, grabbing a small bag from his office so he could use what was inside to open the door of the hidden basement.
"Let's go then." Emma nodded.
"I have to go and meet with David, but you'll keep me informed, right?" Mary-Margaret asked and Emma agreed.
So, what do you think?
Review?
Lorelei Candice Black